| To put some numbers on it, in the US [1] from February 2020 - March 2021: • For age 65+, the infection rate was 23% and the hospitalization rate 4.9%. • For age 5-17, the infection rate was 42% and the hospitalization rate was 0.27%. Kids 5-17 were actually the group with the highest infection rate, followed closely by 18-49 at 41%, then 50-64 at 31%, and 0-4 tied with 65+ at 23%. The hospitalization rates strictly went up with age: 0.26% for 0-4, 0.27% for 5-17, 0.98% for 18-49, 2.3% for 50-64, and 4.9% for 65+. I wonder if we would have done better to keep the schools open the first few months, but as boarding schools until most children have had it. Once nearly all children have had it, school goes fully back to normal. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/burd... |
A few problems:
• Parents have to agree to not see their children for several months.
• Adults need to be present to supervise / teach the children, and they will be at risk from COVID.
• Early on, there was debate about whether contracting COVID led to immunity. (I personally thought people were being overly cautious about this, but even so.)
Taken together, I just don't see it working.
I am surprised we didn't see any college campuses (which really are boarding schools) attempt to isolate themselves. Both students and staff (!) are not allowed to leave campus or invite guests, and must quarantine for two weeks before arrival—but in return, you get to live a normal college life. It would be a huge commitment for professors with families, however.